Sweet Maria's Weblog

Perhaps the most unusual is Costa Rica RIP Red Honey Coffee. RIP? Roasted In Parchment. This coffee has not been dry-milled, the green bean is still in the outer shell. In perhaps the wackyest moment in Sweet Maria's history, we discovered you can roast coffee in the parchment shell, and it has a very unusual flavor. This is for experts only, since you can't really see the green coffee as it turns brown. See the review and the pictures of the RIP process.

Not quite as "out there" is our new lot of Kenya Thika Chania -
French Mission Cultivar. This is a coffee lot from the original French Bourbon varietal as it was brought to Kenya by French priests in 1893, and it as a unique cup character.

Some will think I have gone to "the dark side" by offering a Hawaii coffee that is not a small-farm Kona. But we found the Ka'u coffees from south of Kona on the Big Island have greatly improved in recent years, none more than Hawaii Ka'u Wet-Process -Will & Grace Farm. We also got some miniscule lots from them of hand-processed Ka'u Dry-Process and Pulp Natural NanoLot coffees. Yes, NanoLots. Sub-MicroLots. Read the commentary for these...

Our Classic Mandheling is gone but we have a really good, traditional Grade One Lot to back it up: Sumatra Gr. 1 Mandheling. The preparation isn't pretty, but the cup has true Mandheling origin character.

I have no idea what makes these peaberries golden, they sure don't look like it to me. But I just cupped the production roast (yeah, yeah, with less than 10 minutes of rest out of the roaster), and it sure has a winey fruit note, an maybe it's just language suggestion, but I get golden raisins. I am sure it will change dramatically over time, but it's a good glimpse at what the cup will become with a few days rest. In general, drum roasts emit less CO-2 during the roast process, and in the first 12 hours of post-roast rest. Air roasts "puff" more, and this additional expansion might explain the fact that they de-gas faster. You can see this clearly by brewing a French Press with an air roast vs. a drum roast when the coffee is too fresh, i.e. 10 minutes after roasting. The drum roast will create a rapidly foaming head that will threaten to overflow the carafe. The air roast will foam, but much less. In brewing really fresh coffee, pre-wetting the grinds can help alot, since rapid de-gassing will prevent good extraction/infusion of the coffee and water. Ah, I digress. Panama Boquete Golden Peaberry, 431 f finish temp with the probat curve we have been using as of late... which includes dropping the heat before 1st crack in order to create an extended, slower pop, and lead to a good controlled finish. -Tom

It's time for GeshaFest 2008. The fabled Panama Esmeralda Estate Gesha (AKA Geisha) auction lots are here, with prices ranging from $10.50 to a trifling $125 per Lb.! Ouch. Is the top lot that good? Yep, highest rating we have ever given a Gesha coffee. It's not for everyone, but we hope offering these 4 distinct lots, at 4 price ranges, everyone can check out the way this special cultivar influences aroma and cup flavors of this unique offering. Rounding out our Gesha offerings for 2008 is the arrival of our Guatemala Acatenango Buena Vista Gesha. We have a very small amount, and the coffee scores slightly lower this year, both the result of wind damage to the trees in storms of late '07. Below, a picture of the Esmeralda Lot 3, Peaberry. It was the smallest lot in the auction, and a modest $66 bucks a pound! We have just 150 Lbs of this lot (as with the $125 per pound Lot 2 - the highest price in the auction!) These 2 lots will come vacuum packed in 1/2 lb bags, and will include a Lb. of the lowest priced Lot 5 for test roasting, and for cupping comparison.

Helsar de Zarcero represents the combined efforts of Ricardo Perez Barrantes and Rodriguez Villalobos. Their farms are on a high ridge in the area of Alajuela, in the coffee areas of both Zarcero and Naranjo. This MicroLot represents all the Villa Sarchi on their farms. This is a very clean and mild coffee, and we wanted to see if we can pull more dimension out of it by blending 2 roasts. We roasted half the coffee to a very light 428 f, a City roast, and then the other half to 435 f, City +. We blended them evenly. It's too early to cup the results, but we hope to get the clean peach and mild citrus of the light roast with some additional mild chocolate from the C+ roast. I'll update the post or make a comment after cupping in a couple of days. -Tom

Really nice organic Costa Rica lots from small estates are rare. ThisCosta Rica Organic La Yunta Estate is a crisp, clean, bright cup with floral aroma. Now, if you want to talk flowery coffee, this is the one. Ethiopia Organic Wet-Process Koratie is the sister lot to our Koratie Dry-Process lot. The difference is night-and-day, but both are incredibly aromatic coffees. Candy-like sweetness, peach nectar, watermelon, lemon drops; the descriptors for Koratie Wet-Process are extensive and impressive! We have a new lot of Costa Rica Tarrazu KVW Decaf, surprisingly bright and fruited for a decaf, and a balanced Fair Trade decaf, Nicaragua FTO Dipilto WP Decaf.